You’ve heard of “extreme sports?” Well, the Maple Syrup Diet is “extreme dieting.” Decades old, it is the brainchild of Stanley Burroughs, a practitioner of naturopathy. This plan is more of a detoxification regime than a diet and is as controversial as its now-deceased inventor, who was convicted of practicing medicine without a license after a cancer patient he was treating with alternative medicine techniques (including a version of the maple syrup diet) died.
The Maple Syrup Diet, sometimes called the Lemonade Diet because of the diet drink’s other main ingredient, returned to the spotlight recently when singer/actress Beyonce Knowles revealed using this method to drop one and a half stone– about twenty pounds in U.S. terms– in a week and a half for the movie, Dreamgirls. (Ms. Knowles does not recommend others try it.) The plan revolves around a drink concoction that is made from equal parts of lemon juice and pure maple syrup mixed with water (1 part acid-sugar mixture to 12 parts water), and a bit of cayenne pepper to taste.
Consume six to ten glasses of this—no other sustenance allowed—daily for ten days. Advocates of the regime say the detoxification can be enhanced by downing a sea salt/water mixture before the maple lemonade drink each morning and drinking a cup of herbal tea—one containing senna with laxative qualities—each night. Sounds yummy, huh? Not surprisingly, those who have tried it report abdominal cramping, diarrhea, sore throat, swollen glands, a strange coating on the tongue, irritability, and extreme hunger, among other symptoms. Go figure. Like Beyonce, you will lose weight. Even if you are able to force down nine glasses of the super sweet lemonade, your daily caloric intake will be a bit less than 500. You are getting virtually none of the vitamins and minerals your body needs, and if you opt out of the nightly tea laxative, you may have problems with constipation since your body isn’t getting any fiber, either.
Headaches may become fewer and you may have less acne as some who have used this or some other detox plan claim, but medical experts say this is likely due to the fact that you have eliminated caffeine and alcohol from your diet and are hydrating your body more. In fact, there is no need to put yourself in such misery to detoxify your body. Your body has its own detox systems in place. They are known as the liver and the kidneys. You can even boost the effectiveness of your own natural systems by drinking more water and eating more fruits and vegetables. Bet you’ve heard that before.